Author: beckywills

If you are between the ages of 14-18, the weekend is a chance for you to gather together with other people your age at the Frontier Centre in Irthlingborough. The purpose of the weekend is to give you a reflective space to discern how God can use you to lead others in the different contexts that you are in. It’s our desire that you will leave feeling inspired and ready to step up and be a leader where you see the need for leadership. Leadership has less to do with age and more to do with vision.

In between teaching sessions, we will be taking part in many of the Frontier Centre’s plethora of outdoor activities, swapping stories and eating around the campfire, as well as having plenty of time to let off steam and make friendships with those around us.

There are a limited number of spaces so please fill out the application form below

When working with children and young people, it can be really helpful to have an understanding of the culture that the young people are growing up in. Understanding the context which informs their behaviours, ideas and attitudes can help us to build bridges and find ways to communicate more effectively.

Though no report is a substitute for a conversation with a young person, these documents may give you some helpful background and a starting point.

Here are some links to wider reading on contemporary culture for children and young people. These include various Reports commissioned by the government and other agencies.

Our all-new regular monthly Gen2 Mailing for Children, Youth and Families Ministry is due out next week! It will be fully GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) compliant and hopefully will be eye- catching and full of bite-sized, seasonal, useful updates, events, articles and resources to support your ministry.

In the meantime here is a mix of ideas, news and resources for you to scan down and see if anything catches your eye:

RESOURCES RESOURCES RESOURCES!!! We’ve had a bit of a sort out at Bouverie Court and we’ve got all sorts of useful resources to for use in parishes. Pop in and have a browse or have a look at the loose inventory of items at the bottom of the Resources page: here.

Before and After!!

Over 60 Youth Ministers and volunteers have attended our first two Youth Ministry Training sessions in 2018! The Gen2 Team have been working with local Youth Work Charity ‘Souster Youth’, based in Thrapston, to deliver Youth Ministry Training every month. Dinner is included in the price. Check out the Souster Youth Website for details and booking info or email chad.chadwick@peterborough-diocese.org.uk if you have any questions.

Links/useful resources/current thinking

The Going4Growth website has a really helpful list of Bereavement and Trauma resources that are worth familiarising yourself with so that in the event of a death or tragedy you know where to turn for helpful articles, resources and websites.

Chad has just produced an Event Management Guidefor HOPE Revolution that provides a really useful framework for anyone that is organising Church/Youth Ministry events (at the bottom of the link)

The Lily Jo Project is a great online resource offering support around mental health, anxiety & depression, eating disorders and self harm.

God & the Big Bang God & the Big Bang is a team of world class scientists who facilitate apologetics events, looking at how faith and science can live side by side.

We are Family: a great research resource from the Methodist Church, now available as a pdf here

In the last few monthsStormzy, Bieber and Snoop have all been producing music with clear Christian lyrics and themes. As you can imagine, the reviews in the media have been mixed, but (whether you are a fan or not) it is worth being aware…

As always – get in touch with the Gen2 Team any time by email, social media or phone, for support in your ministry to children, young people, young adults and families.

There is also a regularly updated and really useful national CofE Children’s and Youth website chock full of resources: Going for Growth

The new training course for youth leaders Youth Ministry Training in partnership with Souster Youth and Youthscape is continuing monthly on Monday evenings. After a great start in February with 50 leaders joining us for a night of eating and learning together (each session will have 3 great TED talks, covering theory of youth work, practical skills and personal spiritual development, plus space to interact, discuss and socialise together), we will be back on 12th March. There are very limited spaces for upcoming sessions, so sign up quickly before they all go!

Coming up in March and April we have 3 Fire Church events in South Northants (18th March 5pm Deanshanger), Daventry (the snow-postponed rescheduled date to 15th April at Weedon Bec at 5pm) and Wellingborough (22nd April at 6.30pm at Earls Barton) all are welcome to these informal, local gatherings of young people around a fire to share in fun, fellowship, worship and food.

On 21st April it is the annual CEYC (Church of England Youth Council) open event for all Anglican young people this year in Derby. More details HERE

If you are aged between 14 and 25 and would like to go but have no way of getting there, let us know, to see if we can organise lifts. It would be great to see some representatives from Peterborough Diocese, to support Shakeel, one of our interns and this year’s CEYC Chair (6th from the left, back row in the website cover photo and above!)

An advance notice – much more to come soon. We are hosting our annual Children’s Work Conference on 16th July :Starburst. With keynote speeches from Bishop Donald and National Children’s and Youth Advisor Mary Hawes and lots of really useful and inspiring workshops, sign up a group from your church today. Contact sally.crossley@peterborough-diocese.org.uk to receive a booking form.

And finally for now, both of our Inspire Young Leader Training streams have recently met and had really good times together (check out some great photos from recent events on this website). The older group had a brilliant weekend away in Jan and the Junior Inspire group had fun at Bounce Corby in half term as well as learning and supporting each other. Our next confirmed Inspire event is going to be for the Junior group at Spree, a fantastic annual event at the Frontier Centre hosted by Urban Saints. Find out more HERE and watch out for details on how to book. We plan to take the Inspire group for a taster on the Saturday of the weekend on 7th July.

We hope that 2018 is a great year for you, working with young people and we pray for you as you walk alongside them in their journey with Jesus.

Here are just a few things on the horizon that we would like to draw your attention to:

Inspire Young Leader’s Weekend Away 26th -28th January 2018

There are still some last minute spaces on our Young leaders’ training weekend. The weekend includes sessions on leadership, covenant and commitment. Alongside outdoor activities and plenty of opportunities for young leaders to meet and get to know one and other. This weekend is for young people aged 14-18, who show signs of leadership in any form. To find out more information or to quickly book in please contact Inspire co-ordinator Imogen Allen at imogeniallen@googlemail.com 07960 243254

Do you know any older young people who might like to join us for a day out in London observing General Synod on 10th February 2018? Are they interested in seeing how the CofE works from the inside, in the impressive setting of Church House in Westminster? Get in touch if so.

Junior Inspire 12th February 2018

Young leaders aged 10-13 are invited to come and develop their leadership, meet other young people and of course have lots of fun. The day will start and end at St. John’s Church in Corby and include a trip to Planet Bounce! We encourage you to send any young people who show leadership potential or are already taking on responsibilities in your Church.

Contemplative worship inspired by Taize. Aimed at young people, but all are welcome.
This evening will be a chance to enter into a beautiful space, tap into your creativity and sense of the sacred and find refreshment. There will be silence, music, creativity and stillness.
A time away from the pressures of the world, where you can be truly you and meet with God who loves you just as you are. https://www.facebook.com/events/1591324304262442/ Contact Becky for more information or to get involved.

NAYC are offering this great opportunity, especially for affiliated groups:

An introductory session to raise awareness of young people’s mental health.

You will get an MHFA manual to keep and a certificate to say you are Youth MHFA Aware.

Trainer: Kate Houghton – qualified Youth Mental Health First Aid instructor, with experience working in the area of mental health and wellbeing, previously for the NHS, now delivering wellbeing and life skills workshops in schools.

It would be great to see a good number of youth specialists joining us at whichever location/date is most convenient for you. This year’s theme is St Paul. The day will be packed with workshops on all sorts of subjects (including ours – “Would Paul be on Facebook? Chad versus Becky; a debate!) and a keynote address from the Bishop. Contact Sally to book in Sally.Crossley@peterborough-diocese.org.uk

Our new Gen2 Children and Youth Team is here to support parishes to be truly intergenerational. As Gen 2, Pete White, Chad Chadwick, Becky Wills and Imogen Allen will continue to support the local church to fully include children and young people in all aspects of community life. They are here to resource, support, encourage and equip the parish church so that “one generation shall praise God’s works to one another” (Psalm 145:4); generation to generation.

We believe that growth happens when all generations are engaged in being disciples of Jesus together. The Church of England’s recent report Rooted in the Church found that

where children and young people are included, not judged, treated as equal and unconditionally welcomed they will stay and be at the heart of their local church family. Find out ways to encourage your church to be truly intergenerational: Contact the Gen2 team at Bouverie Court to find out more and access their support.

With a new school year comes new opportunities, events, training and resources for ministry with young people.

This September also brings some changes to our structures and systems at Bouverie Court. Due to our colleague Rona Orme, the Children’s Missioner, moving on to new things, and the Director of Mission, Miles Baker, also leaving his role for a new post, there has been some rearranging of responsibilities and leadership.

Pete (Director), Chad and Becky are now a brand new team for Children and Youth. We will continue to support you in working with young people, but for now we have taken on the remit for children too. We are very excited to have a new part time team member for this year; Imogen Allen, who will be working with us for a day a week as Inspire Co-ordinator. There will also be a supporting team of volunteers with years of experience and expertise between them, that we will call on to help make sure parishes have all the support they need. Our admin support will be by Sally Crossley: sally.crossley@peterborough-diocese.org.uk

These changes have come at a time when we were already thinking about a re-brand and re-focus, and they bring our research, thoughts and recent work into a full circle.

Generation to Generation will be our new Children and Youth Team tag-line – look out for our new logo and branding to be launched this Autumn. The phrase is based on Psalm 145: One generation shall praise Your works to another, And shall declare Your mighty acts.

We are increasingly seeing that churches that embrace an intergenerational approach are experiencing deep and lasting discipleship of young people, and that a move away from “silo-ed off” youth and children’s ministries means that there is more chance of sustained and meaningful engagement with the whole church family. The CofE report “Rooted in the Church”, as well as wider research, reading, external training and thinking have informed an intergenerational approach by our team.

Over the Summer, we presented a seminar at Greenbelt Festival on this theme and we have also been working with Ely Diocese Youth and Children Team to put together The Grandparent Resource. This is in a piloting phase, and we hope to roll out the interactive, editable web resource in 2018. If you’d like more information and to see a draft of some of the content, please email becky.wills@peterborough-diocese.org.uk

We continue to support you with Young Leader training events. Our Inspire strand continues – contact Imogen for more information or to book: imogeniallen@googlemail.com

For junior young leaders aged 10-13 there are a few places left on our next event:

And for the older 14-18’s group:

We continue to gather young people in local settings, around the Diocese, for encouragement, fun, stepping out into leadership and as a way of inspiring the local setting. To find out more about upcoming events see the Area Gatherings page or contact Becky.

Soul Survivor was the highlight of the Summer for many young people and it was great to see groups from our Diocese and region camping and sharing together in worship, learning and meeting Jesus. Soul Survivor’s new home at Peterborough Showground means that we are in the great position to build an exciting and close relationship with the festival. The team are returning to Peterborough on 28th Oct 2017 for a night to remind you of the Summer, to reconnect and join together again. The event is at Kingsate church at 7pm. For more details contact Chad chad.chadwick@peterborough-diocese.org.uk

And don’t forget the great training opportunity coming up on 4th Nov. Learn to Listen Day.